Now, I don't want to overblow this single line, but, if nothing else, this is an acknowledgment that there is an "issue" that needs to be addressed. At the very least, it seems to me as though Brandon is putting options on the table, rather than taking them off the table.

There are many great years ahead for Coach Carr to watch the Wolverines take the field. While some might have soured on him by the end of his tenure, his enduring legacy of winning us a national title earn him a spot among Michigan's greatest.

We criticize each other all the time, especially in D.C. journalism. Every journalist worth his or her salt knows the Freep report was BS. That's not to say if they were all aware of it, but, if made aware of the facts, I'm confident they'd willingly criticize those reports.

I work for one of the Hill rags, fwiw (would prefer not to say which one). But re: the comments below -- yeah, this guy sucks, but I'm maybe still naïve enough to think there are enough good reporters out there to save the business.

I hate headlines, too (I have to write my own). But our obligations as journalists are to at least be faithful to the content of our own damn stories. It's like writing a story on the stimulus package, then headlining it "Obama saves economy" or "Obama kills economy" as a teaser headline.

FWIW, the DetNews's hed on this is much more responsible (hold your shock).

This measure's likely to go nowhere. Waxman (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman, may allow a full committee vote on this, but it's highly unlikely that Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) or Majority Leader Hoyer (D-Md.) would schedule a vote. Essentially, this bill by Barton is highly symbolic only.

HOWEVA: It's important to note that this isn't the only political force at play here. The Playoff PAC founded by Sen. Hatch (R-Utah) has hired some serious guns in the PR world, who are shopping around anti-BCS stories to political journalists. (Full disclosure: I have a good source who's solicited me with said stories. I haven't written anything -- yet.) On the other side of things, the BCS picked up former WH Press Secretary Ari Fleischer to handle their PR.

The takeaway is that people in DC are stirring up noise mainly to gin up public pressure against the BCS, and Barton's measure is just one facet of that effort.

This is sort of an unusual snub by the NYT toward Ann Arbor. In their sports coverage, they usually tilt toward a bias in coverage toward Michigan and ND (two schools that are actual football powers with a substantial alumni base within the NYT's readership demo).

The NYT actually has one of the highest circulations, per capita, in Ann Arbor. If you pick up a copy of the Times in Michigan, Ohio, etc, it's chock full of advertisements for UMMA and soforth.

So it's sort of unusual (and surprising) to see them take a sharp edge toward M in their story, a traditional feature they do in the run-up to The Game.

Sorta rare for columnists to be so open about their partisan hatred for another school in a rivalry. Most columnists like to see themselves as above it (despite the fact that they're, uh, opinion writers). Good for WoJo.

This is exceptionally tough for me. I work in a newsroom (NOT the Freep or DetNews), which is basically a wide open space with desks scattered about. My desk is in a corner, and I face the wall - i.e., I cannot see anybody come up behind me, and anyone can see what's on my computer screen.

There have been sooo many times when an editor's walked up behind me while I'm reading MGoBlog or watching a football video or something.

Thank God all my editors are sports fans, otherwise I would've gotten canned a while ago.

This has been said in some form throughout the thread, but those who are calling for Rich Rod's head put M at risk for becoming something more like Sparty, or, worse, latter-day ND.

I get the frustration; I'm frustrated, too. But some of you *really* want a coaching change? After a year and a half??

Think about the repercussions - some poor schlub comes in facing another situation where he's got another coach's players trying to fit into hypothetical new coach's system. What happens then? We fire him, too?? Not to mention: what coach would come to M when it would seem that some its fans are willing to kneecap his chances at winning before he even gets a chance.

The reality is that continuity and an opportunity to grow are necessary elements for a coaching change to succeed. People calling for Rich Rod's firing, IME, lack a fundamental understanding of why we're losing, as well as an understanding of college football in general.